The Saddest Thing Is That I Have Had to Use Words: A Madeline Gins Reader - (Paperback)

About the Book

"Poet, philosopher, speculative architect and transdisciplinary artist, Madeline Gins is well known for her collaborations with her husband, the artist Arakawa, on the experimental architectural project Reversible Destiny, in which they sought to arrest mortality by transforming the built environment. Yet, her own writings--in the form of poetry, essays, experimental prose and philosophical inquiries--represent her most visionary and transformative work. Like Gertrude Stein before her, Gins transfigures grammar and liberates words. Like her contemporaries in conceptual art, her writing is attuned to the energized, collaborative space between reader and page."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

A revelatory anthology of poems, experimental prose and previously unpublished work by Madeline Gins, the transdisciplinary writer-artist-thinker famed for her "Reversible Destiny" architecture

Poet, philosopher, speculative architect and transdisciplinary artist, Madeline Gins is well known for her collaborations with her husband, the artist Arakawa, on the experimental architectural project Reversible Destiny, in which they sought to arrest mortality by transforming the built environment. Yet, her own writings--in the form of poetry, essays, experimental prose and philosophical inquiries--represent her most visionary and transformative work. Like Gertrude Stein before her, Gins transfigures grammar and liberates words. Like her contemporaries in conceptual art, her writing is attuned to the energized, collaborative space between reader and page.

The Saddest Thing Is That I Have Had to Use Words: A Madeline Gins Reader is a revelatory anthology, edited and with an introduction by the writer and critic Lucy Ives. It brings never-before-published poems and essays together with a complete facsimile reproduction of Gins' 1969 masterpiece, WORD RAIN (or A Discursive Introduction to the Intimate Philosophical Investigations of G, R, E, T, A, G, A, R, B, O, It Says), along with substantial excerpts from her two later books What the President Will Say and Do!! (1984) and Helen Keller or Arakawa (1994). Long out of print or unpublished, Gins' poems and prose form a powerful corpus of experimental literature, one which is sure to upend existing narratives of American poetics at the close of the 20th century.

Born in the Bronx and long a resident of New York City, Madeline Gins (1941-2014) participated in experimental artistic and literary movements of the 1960s and '70s before developing a collaborative practice as a philosopher and architect. Alongside her own writing, Gins collaborated with her husband, the artist Arakawa, on a theory of "procedural architecture," an endeavor to create buildings and environments that would prevent human death.

Review Quotes

Though her style fluctuates, Gins's keen interest in the embodied relationship between writing and reading remains constant throughout the collection [...] For Gins, words are nothing if not physical... Experiencing Gins's writing in print -- at long last -- is so necessary.--Alice Bucknell "PIN-UP"

Exploratory, playful, participatory: these are the "design-elements" Gins employs to interface with the permeable form of being-human that she imagines for us. To this list I must also add generosity, as she delivers to us a version of ourselves, and of language, that is fluid and abundant. The editing and publishing of The Saddest Thing Is That I Have Had to Use Words: A Madeline Gins Reader reflects this generosity, fluidity, and abundance. I'm hard-pressed to think of any other attributes more crucial to cultivate in our present time.--Karla Kelsey "Hyperallergic"

A startling collection of essays, novels, artist books, and poems.--Quinn Latimer "4 Columns"

Stimulating and consistently surprising, this is a treat for those interested in interdisciplinary artists such as John Cage.--Editors "Publishers Weekly"

This collection brings to light the literary achievements of conceptual artist and speculative architect Madeline Gins.--Megan Liberty "Brooklyn Rail"

This generous selection of texts is an opportunity to engage with the full scope of [Gins's] thinking.--Steve Zultanski "Frieze"

[A] radical reinvention of fiction.--Randy Kennedy "Ursula"